Doctoral studies at FyFa

There is no general admission to doctoral studies at Karolinska Institutet. Admission procedures are handled at a departmental level. There are, however, general rules established by Karolinska Institutet for admission to doctoral education.

Please read more about Admission to Doctoral Education at KI.

Link to the forms and documents for doctoral education at KI.

1. Establishment of doctoral position

• A prospective principal supervisor applies to FyFa to establish a doctoral position by submitting the form Establishment of doctoral position.
• Attachments:
  – The Green Light application.
  Note that a Green Light only consider supervisor skills, and that there are other criteria that must be met for a doctoral position to be established (financial plan, quality of research project, co-supervisors etc)”. See information on the staff portal.
  
  – Research plan (5 pages) including background, methods, and descriptions of the specific projects with aims and hypotheses.
  
  – Ethical permitt(s) (if required) is held or planned.
  
  – CV of supervisors (max 2 pages each)– Description of each supervisor in relation to the research project(0.5 page)
  
  – Description of doctoral education environment (0.5 page)
  
  – If assessment regarding exemption from advertising: document verifying the reasons for exemption
  
  –  Form, Financing plan for doctoral student
   
• The application should be submitted to HR@fyfa.ki.se, at the HR unit at FyFa.

Please note that the assessment will take up to three weeks, so please make sure to send in the application form on time.

2.A. For doctoral students recruited through advertising, the following applies

The recruitment process

• The recruitment process starts when the doctoral position is established.
• HR of FyFa will assist the supervisors with advertising of the positions as well as the subsequent steps in the recruitment process, e.g. interviews and eligibility tests of the candidates where colleagues can be involved.
• The timeline for the recruitment process may differ depending on number of applicants etc. It’s therefore good to prepare and have foresight before initiating the process. The recruitment process will last about 10-12 weeks, including the announcement period, assessments by the candidates, interviewing, and assessment of eligibility.
• Observe that advertising a Ph.D. position is only required if the candidate will be employed at FyFa.
• The supervisors will select one of the Doctoral student candidates.

2.B. For doctoral students employed by SLL or supported by CSTP, or industry, the following applies:

• The process starts when the Doctoral position is established.
• Please contact the Doctoral course administrator Sofia Pettersson concerning the assessment of eligibility.

2.C. For doctoral students with stipends (e.g. from CSC), the following applies:

• The process starts when the doctoral position is established.
• The student should, whenever possible, visit FyFa and the research group for thorough interviews and clarifications of what it involves being a PhD student at KI. The HR unit at FyFa will assist the supervisors in this process and with practical issues (e.g. visum application).
• Please contact the Doctoral course administrator Sofia Pettersson concerning the assessment of eligibility.

3. Admission decision

Compulsory documents for admission

• Form, Decision of admission to doctoral education
• Eligibility statement
• Description of the selection process and ability/suitability assessement
• Mandatory supervisor course including web-course
• CV of the applicant
• Copy of passport if the applicant doesn’t have Swedish personal identification nummer (svenskt personnummer)

Send the documents by email to the Doctoral course administratior at FyFa Sofia Pettersson, sofia.pettersson@ki.se

4. Digital Individual Study Plan (ISP)

• The ISP is a tool for doctoral education, written by a doctoral student together with their supervisors. The ISP must be submitted within 1 month after admission and updated annually irrespective of study rate.

The principal supervisor should create and save a new digital ISP in the system. Thereafter, you can write the ISP together. 

Link: https://staff.ki.se/isp-individual-study-plan

Note: A principal supervisor can only create an ISP if the doctoral student has an activated KI-ID.

You will get instructions from the administrator after admission.

The ISP will be evaluated and approved by the Directors of doctoral studies, a Doctoral representative, and Sofia Pettersson. 

Presentation of doctoral project

The Doctoral student present the projectplan during a FyFa research-fika. This is held every Wednesday at 14.30 in the Faculty club on floor 10 in Biomedicum.

Purpose

• To serve as an introductory seminar and to welcome the new student.
• To provide the student with an opportunity to present the research project from his/her perspective and to obtain feedback on it.
• To be a learning activity for the student (note that the seminar is to be held in English).

The presentation should be approximately 15 minutes and in English, and will be followed by a question and answer session. The supervisor has to be present.

Introduction day

Newly admitted doctoral students are invited to an Introduction day at the department via email.

Annual follow-up is mandatory for all doctoral students and should be submitted once a year.

The individual study plan (ISP) and the student’s progression must be followed-up every year regardless of study activity. Information about the ISP, user manuals and other support functions at the staff portal read here

Link to KI-website and information about Annual-follow-up here

On this page we describe the process of half-time review for doctoral students at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology.

The half-time review shall be carried out for every doctoral student who is aiming for a doctoral degree when two years of full-time doctoral education or the equivalent has been completed.

Please start by reviewing the general KI rules for half-time review.

1. Notification of half-time review

No later than four weeks before your half-time seminar you notify the department of an up-coming half-time review by submitting the first part of Form 5 (Notification). The doctoral student and the supervisor fill in part 1 and send the form to the administrator of doctoral education at the department. A Ladok transcript should be attached.

The director for doctoral studies appoints the half-time committee by signing the form, where after the doctoral student can send documents to the appointed committee.

2. Supervisor opens a new version of ISP (keep revision mode open until after seminar).

3. Submit documentation to the examination committee

You or your supervisor should then submit to the members of the examination committee, a number of documents related to your doctoral studies. Please consult the KI rules for half-time review to see which documents should be submitted.

4. Book a room for the half-time seminar

Remember to book a room.

5. Announce the half-time seminar in calendar

The half-time review should be announced in the KI and FyFa calendars on the website ki.se. Please send her an e-mail to FYFA Communication, communication@fyfa.ki.se , with the following information:

• Date and time of your half-time seminar
• Link to Zoom
• The title of your work/your upcoming thesis
• The name of your supervisor

6. After seminar:

• Send the signed form 5 to Sofia Pettersson.
• Revise the ISP and upload the signed form 5 and the Half-time report.

FyFa follows the general rules for dissertation defence at Karolinska Institutet.

General information

Take some time to go through the information Time to defend your thesis on KI's Staff portal.

FyFa timeframe for public defence application:

1. Take some time to go through the information on KI´s staff portal.
2. Contact the Director of doctoral studies or the administrator to check your Ladok credits and that you have documents you need for your application.
3. Contact  sofia.pettersson@ki.se to book a venue for the dissertation.
4. For signatures from Head of department and Director of studies: send in the application form via email to sofia.pettersson@ki.se at least one week before the last submission date of the application to the Dissertation Committee at KI.
5. The completed and signed transcription of your public defence (including attachments) should then be sent to the Dissertation Committee at KI.

Announcement of your thesis defence

Your thesis defence will be announced in the KI calendar by FYFA's Communication once the electronic version of your thesis has been uploaded to the KI Open Archive database.

Transcript of public defence

The completed and signed transcription of your public defence (including attachements) should then be sent to the Dissertation Committee at KI.

Download the application form 9, Application public defence that you will find on Apply for public defence of your thesis. You will find the contact information to the Dissertation Committee on the same page.

Thesis printing

The printing cost for the thesis will be paid by Fyfa. Please forward the invoice in UBW to Kristina Seitz. At the same time, please send a short message to ekonomi@fyfa.ki.se.

Opponent's fee and reimbursement

The opponent is entitled to receive an opponent's fee of SEK 15 000 (minus taxes) after the dissertation defence,.

Opponents are also reimbursed for expenses they have had in connection to the dissertation defence. Remember to book via KI´s contract travel agency, info here. 

For Swedish opponents please provide HR with the following information:

• Full name
• Swedish identity number 
• Home Address
• Email Address
• Certificate document from Swedish population register (Personbevis) from Skatteverket or a photocopy of passport detail page
• To register bank account via this link  

For foreign opponent please provide HR with the following information:

• Full name
• Birth date or Swedish identity number 
• Home Address
• Email Address
• A photocopy of passport detail page
• Bank account register in the attached form (note to include the IBAN and SWIFT numbers)
• Tax registration number (TIN) in his/her country of origin
• Information about the opponents visit in Sweden in terms of dates and if he/she participated psychically or digitally at the dissertation

FyFa HR arrange with the application for SINK-tax  for foreign opponents via the Swedish Tax Agency.
Submit the information to FyFa's HR unit via HR@fyfa.ki.se. 

Useful links

Tme to defend your thesis
Apply for public defence of your thesis

Doctoral courses at Karolinska Institutet are arranged as individual courses, in a doctoral programme or in a doctoral school. The individual courses and courses arranged by a doctoral programme are published in the course catalogue.

Doctoral courses

Doctoral courses at Karolinska institutet are arranged as individual courses, in a doctoral programme or in a doctoral school. The individual courses and courses arranged by a doctoral programme are published in the course catalogue.

Course catalogue - doctoral courses at KI

Please note that all students at Karolinska Institutet admitted to doctoral/third cycle education have to participate in a general and compulsory introduction to doctoral education at Karolinska Institutet - Introduction to doctoral education at KI – Expectations, support and opportunities.

All doctoral students at Karolinska Institutet are required to attain an educational target corresponding to at least 30 higher education credits for those working towards a doctoral degree or at least 15 university credits for those working towards a licentiate degree. You find the requirements in the general syllabus https://staff.ki.se/doctoral-education/documents-and-information-doctoral-education/general-syllabus-for-doctoral-education . 

Queries regarding doctoral education courses and programmes

E-mail: doctoralcourses@ki.se

Credits for doctoral studies

Here's how to be accredited in Ladok with the university credits you are awarded during your doctoral studies:

Credits awarded from doctoral courses at KI

Credits you have been awarded from doctoral courses at KI are registered in Ladok by the department that arranged the course. This is done automatically.

If you took a doctoral course before you were admitted as a doctoral student, find more information about credit transfer below.

Credit transfer - Form 13

A credit transfer means that one of the credit-bearing courses and knowledge requirements of the syllabus is replaced by credits earned previously or outside KI.

• Courses outside KI
• Courses concluded prior to admission
• Other credit bearing activitys, see form 16, if they are completed prior to admission
• Professional skills and experience

Reporting credit-bearing activity - Form 16

• Participate in international congress
• Participation in seminars, journal clubs
• Period with another research group at another university
• Teaching

You can download forms 13 and 16 from the Forms and documents for doctoral education on the staff portal.

Attachments you need to submit with Form 16

-- for participation in international congresses --

Proof of active participation title, date, place of the conference. Participation only does not grant any credits.

-- for doctoral education or research collaborations at other universities --

Submit certificate detailing the content of the training, duration and university or company. The certificate must be approved by your supervisor at KI.

-- for teaching --

Hours you have taught in undergraduate courses at FyFa are registered in Planedit. Administrator at FyFa can help you print out a work report. For supervising a master student you need a certificate from your supervisor.

For PhD student belonging to PMI you should document hours/days of teaching. This includes lectures, seminars and also clinical teaching of students “on the floor”. To get credits use this documentation along with a certificate from the supervisor.

-- for participation in seminars/journal clubs/FyFa Forum --

Submit a certificate stating how many occasions, what kind of occasion and period. The certificate must be approved by your supervisor at KI.

For PhD student belonging to PMI you should document participation in seminars/journal clubs, “Monday meetings” at the clinic usually belong to this type of activity. 

A report of your activity and how your studies have been financed, must be submitted twice a year in June and in December. You will get the form via email from Sofia Pettersson. The report is registered in Ladok.

You find more information here: https://staff.ki.se/doctoral-education/reporting-study-activity-and-source-of-income 

The departmental policy is that during the time spent at the department, the doctoral student should attain good general knowledge in physiology and/or pharmacology and develop his/her communication skills, all of which are important for future scientific activities.

FyFa organizes seminars in physiology and pharmacology for PhD students. The purpose of the seminars if for PhD students to gain deeper knowledge in the topics before meeting students during various teaching activities. The PhD students will accumulate “Journal Club”-points for attending these seminars.

Clinical PhD students employed by the Stockholms Läns Landsting will attain their knowledge in physiology and/or pharmacology as well as in anesthesiology and intensive care medicine by clinical work and teaching activities. The latter includes teaching medical students during their clinical positions as well as educating nurses and other health workers. This involves lectures, seminars, clinical tutoring and examinations.

PhD students can contact our Directors of Studies, Ellinor Kenne, Duarte Ferreira and Kent Jardemark, for further information about FyFa’s courses for undergraduate students.

Teaching activities:

• teaching at different undergraduate programs or freestanding courses at FyFa
• pre-labs
• pre-seminars
• written exams as invigilators
   

“The Chairman and the Management group at FyFa have decided that it is not mandatory for the PhD students to participate in teaching at FyFa from March 1, 2020.

Of course, the PhD students are welcome to teach!

• You will get 4.5 points for 120 hours teaching in LADOK.
• You will get a certificate for future employments.
• You will get a chance to give presentations. 
• The teaching will also imply governmental funding to the research group according to the activity model at FyFa”

Undergraduate courses offered at FyFa

There are two different kinds of courses offered at the department:

• courses that form part of a study programme
• freestanding courses